Voles, in-laws and family life
by Rogercat
Summary: life with a cat is never boring, at least not for Dior and Nimloth


It was rare for Dior to fall sick nowadays when he had chosen the immortality of the Elves, unlike how it could be back in the First Age, but it could still happen. Nothing too bad, merely a light fever no one in the household could guess the reason behind, but he did wake up in the middle of the night at feeling that he was thirsty.

"Oh, I emptied the pitcher earlier already…" he realized in a half-awake state, at finding out that there was no cold water left to drink.

When he entered the kitchen, a purring was heard from near the kitchen door to the outer yard. Ancalagon must have come inside though that cat flip they had built last year, so that huge black cat did not need to wake up half the household with his loud meowings from a window while demanding to be let inside again. For some reason, Dior had a nagging feeling of that he needed to look around on the floor, sometimes there could be dead mice or other kind of unwanted "gifts" Ancalagon had brought home from a hunt to show.

"Anca? Remain still so I can light the candle and not trip over you…"

Ancalagon might be huge and his black fur made him visible in good light, but he was a master of blending in with the most darkest of shadows in the kitchen by night, with only his golden eyes as warning to where he could be.

Of course Dior had been right. A big vole was laying there on the floor, stone-dead.

"Hah, Anca? Do you find me and Nimloth such horribly bad hunters that you have to catch something to feed us?"

In response, the huge cat began to play with the dead vole as if trying to show how he had caught and killed it before bring it home.

"I distantly recall trying to have a talk with you about leaving your catch outside, at least. Do you even bother to remember that the kitchen maid is the one who has to toss out your kill and scrub the whole floor clean with soap and warm water before she can start making breakfast? Because it is not very nice with dried blood and brain matters on the floor, you know. As I happens to have mortal blood in my veins, despite choosing immortality at my rebirth, I am more sensitive to things that can spread disease."

Naturally, Ancalagon ignored his owner in favor of the vole. But Dior decided to save the kitchen maid extra work in a few hours and opened the kitchen door before using a shovel from the outside to toss out the vole, Ancalagon following after the dead monster prey.

Thanks to that the house was built with water pipes fitted with taps, and a part of it heated up from the various fireplaces though some form of central heating that Dior had no idea of how it was built, he did not need to go outside to bring in water from the well.

"Might as well clean the floor…"

The kitchen was not that big, as it was only Dior, Nimloth and a few household servants living in the house. Besides, it was hardly the first time Dior had found himself taking much longer than planned to return to bed in the middle of night for some unexpected reason.

When he finally arrived back to bed, Nimloth muttered in her sleep:

"What did Anca bring in this time?"

"_**A fucking vole,**_" was all Dior said before he laid down on his side of the large bed, returning back into sleep almost right away since he was tired after the cleaning. His wife made no reaction about the curse word, their cat tended to sometimes do things which annoyed the whole household, after all. And then there was all the times Ancalagon would do something that made him get likened to the dragon he was named after…

~X~X~X~X~X~X

It was nothing unusual with having visitors sometimes question their choice of cat.

"Really. if you wanted a cat, I would have recommended the breeder where we brought Snowlily," Idril commented, where she was seated on the sofa with a female cat in her lap. For whatever reason, this cat owned by his mother seemed to be the only cat that Eärendil could accept being around, which might explain why he had brought his parents along today when visiting his parents-in-law together with Elwing.

"We wanted a cat that can keep mice, rats and other vermin away from our storehouse where we keeps our harvested crops over winter. That white cat lady on your lap looks more like she would be scared at the mere sight of a mouse," Nimloth muttered under her breath.

Ancalagon was from a breed found in the north of Valinor, famous for what some people would call "forest winter demons", because they could be semi-feral if they did not get used to life as domestic cats at an early age. Being a long-haired breed infamous for their size, did not help those natural-bred cats win any favor among those who preferred the slender, short-furred cat breeds that had slowly been bred to almost become refined couch potatoes, according to other Elves who saw those cats as living ornaments for people with a lot of money. After all, the royal families tended to be trendsetters in nearly everything that the nobles could do as well and Idril was no exception.

"Aw, come on, those cat breeds are not that bad…and Snowlily is a sweet girl, look at how she makes Eärendil relax," Tuor tried to change the subject, seeing his son absent-minding petting the cat held by his mother.

For all of that they were relatives by marriage, the former Princess of Gondolin with her now formerly mortal husband tended to not get along so well with the former King and Queen of Doriath. Some of it was because of a difference in personalities, culture differences and such, but if all four had to agree on something, it was that neither couple would have agreed to have Elwing and Eärendil be the natural first choice as a spouse for their child nowadays. Idril and Tuor had known their future daughter-in-law from childhood, but death had not allowed Dior and Nimloth the same chance to see if he would match their only daughter in personality. The two Half-elves had once wed to bring the refugees of Sirion together under a single line of rulership, all the way back in the First Age but nowadays, it was impossible to see that they might actually have been too young at the wedding, their bodies mature but their minds still somewhat too immature to really understand the meaning of being married to each other for the rest of their lives.

"We will not throw out Ancalagon to get a different cat. If Eärendil have a problem with him, well, this is not his home."

Idril and Tuor looked deeply offended on behalf of their son, but Dior had a good point; This was the home of Dior and Nimloth, not Eärendil and Elwing, which gave them have the final say in the decisions made in the household. As if Dior had said a summoning spell, a deep meow was heard from one of the beams on the ceiling where Dior had fixed a hole for Ancalagon to climb around between the different rooms and Eärendil tensed up at once.

Then hell broke loose in the living room as Ancalagon spotted Snowlily from his lookout post and naturally had to chase her out of _**his**_ territory. The huge tomcat may be gelded to avoid unwanted kittens around, but when it came to chasing out other cats, he was a legend among the families in the small village that lived close. It was not without reason that his breed was infamous for violent fights if one cat strayed in on another's territory.

"Anca, be nice so the servants will not have to clean up a mess," Dior said calmly, while the two cats ran out from the living room, Idril desperately following after because she feared for her pet. Nimloth did not say anything, she knew that the worst damage Ancalagon would do, was to scare Snowlily half to death and chase her up in a tree somewhere in the front yard. And the female cat was white in her fur colour, so Idril should be able to see where she ran off to in the attempt to escape Ancalagon.

"Tuor. Please be kind and take your family back to the inn in the village as soon as possible. I fear that there will be no peace here unless Snowlily is taken away and there is also the fact that Ancalagon and Eärendil really does not get along…" Nimloth requested, trying to not directly sound like she was kicking out the guests from the house.

He did not need any more hints, especially at now hearing Eärendil scream in horror as Ancalagon attacked him from somewhere.

Once Idril had managed to bring down a terrified Snowlily from the house roof of all places, and Ancalagon locked inside a closet to give Eärendil enough time to escape from the house, peace returned to the household.

"Well, they only have themselves to blame for bringing along that cat. Of course Ancalagon has to defend his territory from intruders."

The servants agreed with their lady, even if they had to set things back on their proper places and sweep up the not-so-mourned remains of a badly painted vase gifted from Elwing last year, where the two cats had been running around.

~X~X~X~X~X~X

Thankfully, there was other relatives of his owners that Ancalagon accepted with no trouble. Their grandson Elrond and his wife Celebrían was two such persons.

"Amazing how Anca hates Eärendil but is perfectly fine with his son."

Personally, as his wife was petting a purring Ancalagon between them on the outside bench, Elrond guessed that it was because he was used to pets, since there had been many generations of cats and dogs in Imladris during the years he had been its Lord. Besides, Amon Ereb had needed cats to keep away mice and rats from its food storage, alongside some good guard dogs and hunting dogs, which he and Elros witnessed while growing up.

"I think their different personalities and behavior around you two also help," Celebrían suggested, recalling one really awkward family dinner a few years ago when Elwing and Eärendil insisted on gathering their closest kin, and how Dior and Nimloth had been awfully uncomfortable over needing to leave their comfortable home in the woods for staying a week in what strongly reminded of a palace with rooms for everyone, rented by Elwing for the family gathering without thinking of first questioning her parents if they would have preferred to rent a room at a inn instead. The Second Kinslaying had caused a deep-seated fear of larger crowds in them both, which made it awkward everytime Nimloth and Dior had to come to the major cities.

"Thank Eru for that. Our daughter and her husband are enough drama queens both together and alone."

No, it was really well that many members in the family was more level-headed, and used to cats. Sure, Ancalagon could surprise people who did not expect his size ot name, but he was not someone to attack guests randomly either.

"Right, shall we test some of those cookies I have done from a new recipe? Elrond requested my help in trying to make sweets that is made with less sugar and somewhat more healthier," Celebrían offered while reaching for a small wicker basket at her left. She hurried to say that no, there was no ones made with peanuts among the cookies, because she knew about Dior's allergy to them.

"Always a joy to have family members by marriage that actually uses their head about various situations," Dior smiled at his daughter-in-law, who knew a few things about mortals and their illnesses thanks to having Elrond as a husband. Celebrían would perhaps not count as a nurse, but she would know a few basic treatments if it was something minor, and not something dramatic that requested a operation or similar bad injury.

The cookies was wonderful with the freshly made tea Nimloth brought from the kitchen, and all four enjoyed the fine summer weather. Ancalagon was sleeping peacefully, looking like a innocent giant ball of black fur where he now had curled up for a nap between Elrond and Celebrían.


End file.
